Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full) 

28 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, and twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors. 

Last updated 3-26-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 15
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
Alexander Canario
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 12 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Ben Brown, P 
Alexander Canario, OF 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Keegan Thompson, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 
Hayden Wesneski, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Pirates @ Cubs: Brault vs Arrieta (Game 130)

Sweet home Chicago.PIT (67-61): LHP Steven Brault (0-1, 3.60)   
CHC (82-47): RHP Jake Arrieta (16-5, 2.62)
First pitch: 7:05pmCST

Arrieta has put together a solid August, going 4-0 with a 1.98 in four games, including an 8-inning shutout in San Diego. He’s 3-1 with a 2.67 in 4 starts against the Pirates this season. Overall, they are 43-202 (.213) against him. Joyce is 7-20 with a HR. Rodriguez is 2-6 with a HR, but destroyed two Gatorade coolers in the process.

The 24y/o rookie Brault had two spot starts in July, and now he’s back. He gave up 1 ER in 4 innings in St. Louis in his debut, and look the loss in Milwaukee after giving up 3 ER in 6 innings. He’s struck out 8 and walked 5 in his 10 innings. He was 2-7 with a 3.70 in 17 appearances in the minor leagues.

Kuhl (3-1, 3.50) versus Hendricks (12-7, 2.19) tomorrow at 7:05pmCST.

Go Cubs!

Comments

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

CF WAR is ridiculous...billy hamilton is pulling a 3.0 WAR somehow...and managed a 2.0 WAR last year (even though he missed a month of the season)...and a 3.7 WAR in 2014. yeah, a lot depends on how one is doing relative to others at a given position, but WAR is common used (right or wrong) as a blanket comparing all kinds of players. trout's one of the best, and at this point should probably win over donaldson (and should have more MVPs in the past, too), but the defensive aspect of valuing WAR still needs more tweaking...imo.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

yes, those hamilton WAR numbers are very reasonable. i'm on your side now based on that biting commentary and reasoning of why he's a 3.5-ish WAR player over a 600 PA season. those numbers are obviously well deserved and worthy of no scrutiny...none at all. no issue. CF D is rarer than a jon lester pickoff at 2nd...totally irreplaceable...no way in hell there's good D, low/no-hitting CF's in anyone's system that could do what hamilton is doing. guys like this don't exist...you get like, 2-3 at any given time in history. the fact hamilton has a better WAR than the NL ob% leader on BR's WAR is of no concern about the value of D in overall WAR values...just as it is the competing WAR metrics are different...the difference is an illusion, they secretly agree because they can't be questioned. nothing to scrutinize here...perfection has been obtained. playing 1st base with a .309/.432/.522 line just isn't as valuable as playing CF with a .261/.319/.348 line. you can get a 1st who plays average D with a .309/.432/.522 line anywhere, literally anywhere! where on this planet can you get a good D CF'r who can put up a .261/.319/.348 line, though? that's crazy, you'll never find a good D CF'r as a replacement player who can put up a .261/.319/.348 line in the majors! can you seriously not see how some might have an issue with how WAR values D in some positions, especially when there's 2 competing WAR value creating formulas that sometimes vary by noticeable amounts? maybe they should just call it "Baseball Guy Cool Points" rather than assigning "Wins" for what they consider "Replacement" level players. albert almora projected to be a 4.9 BGCP player over a 600 PA season with his good D and a .265/.291/.422 line. yeah, that sounds awesome. now if you'll excuse me i have some rocks to bang on to start a fire so my cave will be warm this evening because that's a thing that cavemen stuck in the past do.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Thanks for shining a light on this very important topic and steering it away from the frivolity that was the awesomenes of Mike Trout, but moreso on the foolishness of WAR as a metric to judge the value of center fielders. We're all a little wiser now and your contributions are invaluable to this community and to America's pastime. God Bless!

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

it was about a post comparing players based on WAR...and comparing WAR values of a CF to a slew of other players...a post that you made...and i made a comment...that talked about D weighting of WAR...and comparinging WAR values of a CF to a slew of other players...etc etc... hell, we didn't even get in deep. i didn't even involve UZR or FIP versions and their strengths/weaknesses...or position mandated "handicapping" in points...etc. let's not talk about that...cool, fine, awesome. context sucks. san dimas highschool football rules. *shrug*

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

#crunchsplaining

Thanks for the awesome give and take today and for the 535 words you spilled filling in all the gaps that I woefully neglected. We're all a little wiser and better for it. I look forward to your play-by-play summary later in the comments.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Two things: Fangraphs WAR #s include baserunning and Hamilton is elite at that. He leads in SBs with the 54 and and has an 87% rate which is really good. I'm sure once he gets on base he's able to take the extra base quite often too. Both those things will up his overall WAR value. The differences between BR and FG WAR is pretty well documented online and thus If there are discrepancies it's fairly easy to figure out why. It's fairly well accepted that BR WAR is fine as a snapshot but FG is better at predicting future value.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

crunch - you do know that, taking defense out of the equation, Trout has led the AL in wRC+ each of those years, right? And, if you want to complain about position adjustment (which would be serious #crunchsplaining), he's been in the top 3 in the AL in WC (not park/league/position adjusted). And the only players ahead of him (if there were any players ahead of him) in any of those years have been DHs or 1B that play lousy defense. But sure - Trout sucks (or at least isn't as good as WAR says). Because it factors in defense and position. Also - glad nothing has changed at TCR...

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

"trout's one of the best, and at this point should probably win over donaldson (and should have more MVPs in the past, too), but the defensive aspect of valuing WAR still needs more tweaking...imo." that's from my 1st post. there's no suck involved in that. maybe with a few less posts about bullshit that point would have jumped out more. trout got his props above and beyond...i even gave him more MVP props than he received in real life. what i posted was far from damming to trout. that's a problem when threads like this turn into a shitfest without useful info/convo because people are butthurt about stuff outside of the info. it's not trout i have a problem with...it's how valuable playing CF is in a stat that's supposed to measure replacement level players...and a lot has to do with position based bonuses and defense (especially in UZR weighted WAR formulas). i love wRC+, i wish more people would focus on single-ended stats rather than looking at flawed stats that exponentially exaggerate flaws by combining stats into a be-all-end-all stat...especially one that assigns "wins" based on "replacement level" players. ...and yes, nothing changes at TCR...lots of awesome information in between the rage quitting and bitching about other people posting, though.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

the factual correction on your mistakes on your post that I barely bothered to read the first time because it had nothing to do with anything I wanted to talk about is indeed a sign of my degenerative brain condition. I appreciate the safety tip and will be looking into with extreme urgency now.

MyrtleBeachPelicans ‏@Pelicanbaseball The #MBpelicans and @Cubs have extended their PDC through 2020! ---- Carolina League getting 2 new teams too.

"According to FOX Sports' Jon Morosi, Tim Tebow's baseball workout Tuesday in Los Angeles will be attended by scouts from "roughly half" of the 30 major league teams." "One scout told ESPN.com last week that Tebow's swing is so long it might "take out the front row." That's not a good thing."

modern media

@BNightengale: Former #MLB pitcher Dan Haren will be throwing to Tim Tebow tomorrow during his tryout in LA, he announced.

 ‏@ithrow88(dan haren): @BNightengale nope, I was offered the opportunity and declined.

 @ithrow88 Oh and memo to my agent, @bvanwagenen: Pitching to Tim Tebow tomorrow DOES NOT count as getting me a real job offer.

Let's see -- up 3-0, at home, Jake on the mound annnnd....compare and contrast 2015 to 2016. Bleh. Hopefully, the Pirates will uncork a series of 9th inning wild pitches.

Everyone remember Starlin Castro dropping or misplaying just about every ball near second base that involved a tag?

Javier Baez is the opposite of that.

Maddon's master plan to challenge his offense to improve on coming from behind late in games is working amazingly.

This fucking game

Baez lucky to not have hurt his hand with headfirst slide on play at plate in 12th inning.

Classic ending, about 12:11 AM, CST. 5 hours, 3 minutes. Both teams have bases loaded, no out situations in the last inning. Magic #19. Last man on the bench, Montero gets it done.

I saw the first three innings and the last three, so I didn't see Arrieta get hit. His stuff looked nasty at first...what happened? Any insight from anyone who watched? #baseballtalk

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    yeah, for me this isn't about who's better at 3rd.  it's madrigal, period.  for me it's about who's not hitting in the lineup because madrigal is in the lineup.

    occasional play at 3rd for madrigal, okay.  going with the steele/ground-ball matchup...meh, but okay, whatever.

    seeing madrigal get significant starting time...no thanks.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Yeah I am very disappointed Madrigal is starting. He has no business as a starter. He is AAA insurance, a back up at best. Sure his defense looks fine because he plays far enough in that his noodle arm isn’t totally exposed. It comes at the cost of 3B range.

    He’s garbage, and a team serious about winning would NOT have him starting opening day.

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?  it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

    anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season.  it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    18-year old SS Jefferson Rojas almost made the AA Tennessee Opening Day roster, and he is a legit shortstop, so I would expect him to be an MLB Top 100 prospect by mid-season. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Among the relievers in the system, I expect RHRP Hunter Bigge at AAA Iowa and RHRP Ty Johnson at South Bend to have breakout seasons on 2024, and among the starters I see LHP Drew Gray and RHP Will Sanders at South Bend and RHP Naz Mule at ACL Cubs as the guys who will make the biggest splash. Also, Jaxon Wiggins is throwing bullpen sides, so once he is ready for game action he could be making an impact at Myrtle Beach by June.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I expect OF Christian Franklin to have a breakout season at AA Tennessee in 2024. In another organization that doesn't have PCA, Caissie, K. Alcantara, and Canario in their system, C. Franklin would be a Top 10 prospect. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The Reds trading Joe Boyle for Sam Moll at last year's MLB Trade Deadline was like the Phillies trading Ben Brown to the Cubs for David Robertson at the MLB TD in 2022.